Keeping shoppers here in NSB

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Keeping shoppers here is the most important aspect of the infusion of new stores, including a Big Lots at the NSB Regional Shopping Center and a Dollar General Market at the old Food Lion on the beachside.

New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam BarringerMayor Adam Barringer is absolutely right when he says these new stores are essentially "a wash" considering the loss of the Food Lion in February and the Kmart store on 44, just east of the NSB Regional where Big Lots becomes the anchor for the Walmart that closed last year to make way for the Walmart Supercenter 3.5 miles west and on the other side of the Interstate 95 interchange.

Shoppers will have more choices and won't have to go elsewhere like Port Orange, that while the next city over, is still a hike. The Dollar General becomes the new anchor for the former Food Lion plaza and fills a void for beachside residents. True economic development means industry.

It means full-time jobs that pay decent wages beyond the minimum of retail, which often provides mostly part-time and lacking in health benefits. Still, every job created here is vital to the local economy as is every dollar spent here.